Railway Budget disappointing for Karnataka: CM

Bangalore: Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Tuesday termed the Railway Budget as `disappointing` as it did not include most of the projects proposed by the state government and flayed the hike in freight rates.

Shettar criticised the hike in freight charges saying, "it will lead to price rise, burdening the common man".

"Karnataka is the only state, providing land and sharing 50 per cent of the cost of new railway projects. In spite of this, it is regrettable that the state`s demands have been sidelined," he said.

Out of the seven new railway projects requested by Karnataka, only Gadag-Wadi, Srinivaspur-Madanpalli and Chikkaballapur-Puttaparti lines have been approved, he said.

Though a few trains have been extended, it was more beneficial to the other states as the distance extended was very short.